BASEBALL INSIDER%%webhead%%Cleveland Indians beat writer
Paul Hoynes explains why he voted the way he did for the
baseball Hall of Fame %%ewebhead%%

Cleveland Indians beat writer Paul Hoynes explains why he voted the way he did for the baseball Hall of Fame

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Paul Hoynes

Plain Dealer Reporter

Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice were elected to the Hall of
Fame on Monday by a vote of the Baseball Writers
Association of American. They'll be inducted in July
along with former Indians third baseman Joe Gordon.

Here's how I voted.

Rickey Henderson: Runs decide which team wins and which team
loses. Henderson scored the most ever. By the way, how could
28 writers leave the best leadoff hitter in history off
their ballots?

Jim Rice: I didn't vote for him his first couple of
years on the ballot. When I looked deeper into his stats, I
saw someone who was a dominant hitter for at least a decade.

Jack Morris: At his peak, he dominated the game for 10
years. He won 162 games, more than any other pitcher, in the
1980s. Then there's Game 7 of the 1991 World Series
when Morris threw 10 shutout innings in the Twins' 1-0
victory over St. Louis.

Yes, he left the Indians during the 1994 season, telling
manager Mike Hargrove, "It's crunch time on the
farm." Hargrove's reply? "It's crunch
time here, too."

After Morris left to harvest the wheat on his Montana
farm, I knew I'd never see him again in an Indians
uniform. But I thought for sure I'd see him in
Cooperstown.

Andre Dawson: Jerome Holtzman, the late Hall of Fame baseball writer from Chicago, told me Dawson was the only player he knew who could make a bad team good by the force of his personality. He wasn't too bad a player, either. He played longer than Rice, had more hits, including doubles, triples and homers, and won eight Gold Gloves for his outfield play....

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